United States Regiments & Batteries > Pennsylvania > 3rd Regiment Pennsylvania Reserves
(32nd Regiment Pennsylvania Infantry)
The 3rd Regiment Pennsylvania Reserves lost 3 officers and 69 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded and 1 officer and 54 enlisted men to disease during the Civil War. It is honored by a monument at Antietam.
The Pennsylvania Reserves were 15 regiments that were recruited in early 1861. Refused by the War Department as they were in excess of Pennsylvania’s quota, Governor Curtin decided they would be armed and trained at state expense. The War Department soon realized they were needed and assigned them standard designations when they were accepted into Federal service. But the men preferred to be known by their original name: the Pennsylvania Reserves. See more about the Pennsylvania Reserves.
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1861
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| May 20 |
Organized at Philadelphia and moved to Easton, Pa.
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| May 21-July 22 | Camp at Easton |
| July 22 | Moved to Harrisburg, Pa. |
| July 28 | The 3rd Regiment Pennsylvania Reserves mustered into United States service under the command of Colonel Horatio G. Sickel, Lieutenant Colonel William S. Thompson and Major Richard H. Woolworth. Moved to Washington, D.C., then to the Pennsylvania Reserves camp at Tennallytown, Md. Attached to 2nd Brigade, McCall’s Pennsylvania Reserves Division, Army of the Potomac. |
| Oct. 9 | At Camp Pierpont, near Langley, Va. |
| December 6 | Expedition to Grinnell’s Farm |
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1862
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| March | Attached to 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, 1st Corps, Army of the Potomac |
| March 10-15 | Advance on Manassas, Va. |
| April 9-19 | McDowell’s advance on Falmouth attached to 2nd Brigade, McCall’s Division, Dept. of the Rappahannock |
| April – May | Duty at Fredericksburg |
| June 1 | Major Richard Woolworth was transferred and promoted to lieutenant colonel in the 4th Pennsylvania Reserves |
| June 9-11 | Moved to White House, Virginia. Aattached to 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, 5th Corps, Army Potomac |
| June 25-July 1 |
Seven days before Richmond |
| June 26 |
Battle of Mechanicsville |
| June 27 |
Gaines’ Mill |
| June 30 |
Charles City Cross Roads and Glendale |
| July 1 |
Malvern Hill |
| July-August | At Harrison’s Landing |
| July 9 | Lieutenant Colonel Thompson resigned |
| August 1 | Captain John Clark of Company E was promoted to lieutenant colonel and Captain William Briner of Company D to major |
| August 16-26 | Movement to Join Pope, attached to 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, 3rd Corps, Army of Virginia |
| August 28 |
Battle of Gainesville |
| August 29 |
Groveton (Brawner’s Farm) |
| August 30 |
Second Battle of Bull Run (Second Manassas) |
| September 1 | Colonel Sickle was forced to leave the regiment on sick leave,. |
| September 6-24 |
Maryland CampaignAttached to 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, 1st Corps, Army of the Potomac. |
| September 14 |
Battle of South MountainThe regiment fought at Turner’s Gap. |
| September 16-17 |
Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg)The 3rd Regiment Pennsylvania Reserves was commanded at Antietam by Lieutenant Colonel John Clark. From the 3rd Reserves’ regiment’s monument on the Antietam battlefield: Arriving on the field on the afternoon of September 16th, Lieut. Col. John Clark. Comd’g. the Regiment immediately deployed eight companies as skirmishers. When the 2nd Brigade advanced on the morning of September 17th, the Regiment fell into line, and 600 yards South of this point became engaged with Hood’s Confederate Division. Number engaged about 200. Casualties at Antietam |
| September-October | Duty in Maryland |
| October 30-November 19 | Movement to Falmouth, Va. |
| December 12-15 |
Battle of FredericksburgThe regiment was part of Meade’s attack on the Confederate right Flank, the only attack at Fredericksburg that broke the Confederate line. Unfortunately, it was unsupported and forced to fall back. The regiment lost 128 men. |
| December 25 | Colonel Horatio Sickl took command of the Pennsylvania Reserves Division when George Meade was given command of the 5th Corps. |
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1863
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| January 20-24 | “Mud March” |
| February 6 | Ordered to Washington, D.C. and duty there and in District of Alexandria attached to 2nd Brigade, Pennsylvania Reserves Division, 22nd Corps, Dept. of Washington, D.C |
| June 1 | The Pennsylvania Reserves Division split up, with two brigades rejoining the Army of the Potomac for the Gettysburg Campaign and one brigade remaining in the Washington Defenses. The 3rd Reserves remained in Washington. Colonel Sickles gave up command of the division and took command of the brigade. |
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1864
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| January 6 | Duty near Martinsburg, W. Va. |
| January 27 | Operations in Hampshire and Hardy counties, W. Va. |
| February 7 | Duty near Kearneysville, W. Va. |
| March 27 | Near Harper’s Ferry |
| April 3 | Moved to Webster |
| April 22 | Moved to the Kanawha Valley, W. Va. Attached to 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Dept. of West Virginia |
| May 2-19 | Crook’s Expedition to Virginia & Tennessee Railroad |
| May 9 |
Battle of Cloyd’s MountainCaptain Jacob Lenhart commanded the regiment while Colonel Horatio Sickel commanded the brigade.Colonel Sickel led a charge against the Confederate breastworks that turned the enemy’s flank. |
| May 10 | New River Bridge |
| May 10-19 | Expedition to Meadow Bluff, Fayette County |
| May 12-13 | Near Newport |
| June 4 | Left front for Pittsburg, Pa. |
| June 8 | Veterans and Recruits transferred to 54th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment |
| June 17 | The 3rd Pennsylvania Reserves mustered out at the end of their three year enlistment under the command of Colonel Horatio G. Sickel, Lieutenant Colonel John Clark and Major William Briner. Colonel Sickel and a number of the men reenlisted in the 198th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, with Sickel becoming its colonel. |